Apparatus for the manufacture of water-gas



(No Modem 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. M. ROSE.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WATER GAS.

No. 891,887. Patented Oct. 16, 1888. I

WWMMM= 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. M. ROSE. APPARATUS FORTHE MANUFACTURE 0E WATER GAS. No. 391,387. Patented Oct. 16, 1888.

(No Model.

A, AAW W%E A E \mlllulnlllvlulll HI A A 1 l l l u l I l I ll lliviTnn ETnTns PATENT lFl llQEs JAMES M. ROSE, OF ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE ROSE GAS GENERATOR COMPANY, OF NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FUR THE MANUFACTURE OF JVATER GAS.

$FBCIFICATIGN forming part of Letters Patent No. 391,387, dated October 16, 1888.

Original application filed March 2, 1887, Serial No. 229,435. Divided and this application filed November 1. l887. Serial No.

To aZZ whom "it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AMES M. ROSE, of Allegheny, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for the Manufacture of lVater-Gas; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to the manufacture of [0 gas, its object being to provide apparatus for practicing by a continued process the manu facture of gas from incandescent fuel, the apparatus being particularly, though not exclusively, adapted for employment in the manufacture of gas by the process set forth in application for patent filed by me March 2, 1887, Serial No. 229,435, of which this application is a division. In that application is described a process for making gas, consisting, generally 2c stated, in heating a mass of coke or coal to in candescence, and passing the products of combustion therefrom through a mass of limestone or other porous refractory material impregnated with a heavy hydrocarbon, and then passing a current or currents of steam into the incandescent fuel and the heated impregnated limestone, the gas obtained by this process being found to be rich enough in light hydrocarbons, principally marsh gas, to be well adapted for fuel purposes.

My invention will be described in connection with this process of making gas.

It consists, generally, in gasmaking apparatus having a central steam-boiler and a series of sets of limestonechambers and generator-chambers arranged around the boiler, the limestone-chamber of each set communicating with the lines of the boiler, and the generatorchamber being placed at the side of the li mestone-chamber and communicating therewith, this construction of the gas-making apparatus giving easy access to all the lime-chambers and generatorchambers through the outer wall for cleansing, refilling or repair, and rendering the apparatus compact and well adapted to small plants.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will describe the same, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a horizdntal section of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same on the line 00 00, Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the same on the line y y, Fig. 1.

Like letters refer to like parts in each of the 5 figures of the drawings.

Arranged around a central boiler, a, are a number of gas-generator chambers, Z), between each one of which and alternating therewith, are limestone-chambers c, which communicate with the gas-generator chambers and with the -b'oiler, in the manner hereinafter set forth.

Each gas generator chamber I) is provided with gratebars b, and in the outer wall with a flue or passage, 6, having lateral offshoots 6 6 leading into the chamber to raise the mass of fuel to incandescence. The roof of the genorator-chamber has therein a chargingport, f, closed by a block, f, and the lower part of the chamber is provided with a stoking-hole, g, 0 and aslrpit door 9, and leading from the up per part of the chamber into the limestonechamber, just below or into the mass of limestone or refractory materials, is a flue, h, Fig.

3, through which the products of combustion from the gas-generator chamber pass. Each limestone-chamber c is provided with gratebars 0 to support the limestone or other material, and in the upper part of the chamber with a gas-flue, t, leading to the gasstoragc 8c tanks or to the purifying-box, and a flue, j, closed by a damper, 70, leading into the chamber Z, which communicates by the dues a to the chamber a" at the bottom of the flueboiler a, through which the products of combustion 8 pass, after heating the mass of limestone or other material in the limestonechamber, into the boiler and generate steam in the same.

For the purpose of withdrawing the material which is charged into thelimestone-chamo ber, the latter is provided with a stoke-hole,

c, opposite the grate-bars. Stcanrpipes m convey steam from the boiler a to the generator-chamber I) just below the grate-bars and pipes m to the limestone-chambers just above 5 or below the grate-bars and into the upper part of the same.

In employing my improved apparatus with the process of making gas described in the said application of March 2, 1887, a quantity rco of limestone, dolomite, slag, or some porous refractory material is thoroughly impregnated with a heavy hydrocarbonsuch as asph altum, coal-tar, &c.and the material thus produced charged into the limestone-chamber 0 through a port in the roof thereof until the chamber is about half filled, and the said chamber is then sealed by suitable means to prevent access of air thereto. At the same time the gas-generator chambers are filled with coke or coal, and when the charging is completed the fuel is ignited and the blast turned on in the passage 6, which rapidly causes the fuel to become incandescent, the products of combustiontherefrom passing over through the fine It into and through the mass of impregnated limestone, heating the same,the limestone-chamber being closed, so that no air is admitted to support combustion and thus burn the hydrocarbon with which the limestone or other material is impregnated. These products of combustion, after passing through the mass of material in 4 the limestone-chamber, pass through the flue j into the chamber 1, and thence into the boiler a to generate steam. When the fuel in the generator-chamber has reached the proper degree of incandescence, the air-blast is turned off and the damper is lowered to close the flue leading into the boiler from the limestonechamber, after which steam is turned on in the pipes in m. The steam from the former, coming in contact with the incandescent carbon,is decomposed and hydrogen and carbonic oxide formed, which gases pass over into the limestone-chamber 0 through the mass of material therein, the carbonic oxide uniting with the oxygen released by the decomposition of the steam, which enters the limestone-chamber below the mass of lime, to form carbonic acid, and the hot gases thus formed passing through the heavy hydrocarbon causes the latter to form with the nascent hydrogen hydrocarbons, principally of the ethylene and paraffine series, which mingle with the carbonic hydrogen and other gases in the upper part of the lime-chamber.

Any carbon disulphide which may have been formed in the fuel-generator chamber is broken up by the high temperature of the limestone-chamber and sulphureted hydrogen formed which may be subsequently removed by passing the gas through a purifyingbox.

During the heating of the limestone-chamber and the impregnated material therein by the products of combustion passing therethrough the heat causes some of the hydrocarbon to be distilled, which, as the upper walls of the limestone chamber are at a comparatively low temperature, deposits thereon more or less carbon,as do the products of combustion passing through the chamber to a slight extent. To take up this deposited carbon and still further enrich the gas in hydrogen and reduce the bulk of the carbonic acid formed in the lower part of the limestonechamber to carbonic oxide, a supply of steam is admitted into the upper part of the limestone-chamber, which, as the free carbon and the gases in the upper part of the chamber are now at a high heat, the steam is decomposed and the oxygen released united with the hot carbon and this carbonic acid to form carbonic oxide, the hydrogen mingling and passing off with the other gases formed in the lime-chamber through the outlet 1' to the purifyingbox or storage-tanks. The flow of steam into the fuel or generator chamber and into the limestone-chamber is continued as long as the fuel and material in the limestone-chamber remain heated to a sufficient degree to effect the decomposition of the steam; but as soon as the heat. of these substances falls too low the steam is turned off, the damper 7c raised, and the air-blast turned on in the passage e, which soon raises the temperature of the fuel and the material in the limestone-chamber to the proper temperature to commence the gasmaking step again. WVhen the hydrocarbon with which the material in the limestonechamber is impregnated is exhausted, the limestone is withdrawn from the chamber and a new charge of impregnated material is inserted. As a series of these sets of gas-making chambers is arranged around the boiler, and as they do not act simultaneously, some one set of chambers is always discharging its products of combustion into the boiler while another set is always discharging a supply of gas into the storage tanks or reservoir, so that the action of the'apparatus is continuous.

The gas which is obtained by this process contains more or less hydrogen and is rich enough in light hydrocarbonsprincipally marsh gas-to insure that a long heating flame will be obtained in burning it, and hence the gas is well adapted for fuel purposes. As the asphaltum or coal-tar forms with the hydrogen a large percentage of light hydrocarbons, a very large volume of gas is made very quickly at a comparatively low cost.

This particular arrangement of gasgenerators and lime-chambers has the advantage over that described in my patent,No. 37 0,97l,dated October 4,1887,in that the limestone-chambers are next to the outer walls of the apparatus and thus easier to get at and repair. The arrangement is also more compact and better adapted to small plants where space is a consideration.

My improved gas apparatus may be employed in other gas-making processes, such as where the limestone or second chambers contain lime or fire-brick or other suitable material for either purifying the gas formed in the generatorchambers b, or. other material for generating a further quantity of gas.

I do not claim herein the particular process of making gas heretofore described, as that forms the subject-matter of the said application, filed March 2, 1887, Serial No. 229,435, of which this application is a division.

Having now described my invention, what her and communicating therewith, substan- 10 I claim is tially as and for the purposes set forth.

In gas-making apparatus, the combination, In testimony whereof I, the said J AMES M. wfith a central steam-boiler, of a series of sets RosE, have hereunto set my hand.

5 o limestone-chambersandgenerator-chambers arranged around the boiler, the limestone JAMES ROSE chamber of each set communicating with the Witnesses: fines of the boiler, and the generator-chamber JAMES I. KAY, being placed at the side of the limestonecham- J. N. COOKE. 

